Chapter 106: Rewind To The Past
It was a few years before the dalki war was going to end, but no one knew it yet. Abilities were made public knowledge recently, and the race to conquer planets ragged on. Erin’s family had a company in charge of supplying shelters on other planets, and just recently, they were hired by one of the Big Four.
They were tasked with colonizing a newly discovered planet.
With the funds one of the Big Four leaders gave them, they bought some gear, hired help, and some basic ability books before preparing to go to what would be their new home for the next few years.
As they entered the teleporter to their new home, a 6 year old Erin took in the view. The sea-green grass, the purple floral trees, and the dark navy blue sky were all gorgeous sights to her.
Due to the fact that setting up shelters on new planets involved living on site for a long time, Erin’s parents decided to bring their child along with them, not wanting to miss their own daughter growing up.
While her parents had been antsy about being given such a big task, Erin was just excited to see a brand new world. The dalki war was just a mild concern that little Erin didn’t fully understand the severity of yet.
Soon, Erin’s parents and their team began setting up a base of operations, clearing spaces, setting up walls, planning infrastructure, a place to stay and preparing for colonization.
However, little Erin was just amazed by the nature. It was her first time on a completely different planet. She wanted to run around and have fun, but her parents told her that it was dangerous, so she sat on one of the boxes instead, kicking her feet wildly watching the men get to work.
As she watched, the planet’s colors reminded her of some toys she had, and a new idea was forming in her mind.
"Hmmm, Mermaidtopia!" She exclaimed.
Her dad had lifted her up from behind, surprising her, and the two began to laugh.
"What’s this about a Mermaid-what-pia?" Her father joked.
Her father’s light wrinkles creased as he smiled, and his golden blonde hair gently blew in the wind carrying his precious daughter.
"Let me name it Mermaidtopia! We’re on Mermaidtopia!" Erin smiled, "I’m going to see mermaids!"
"Hmm, I think that name might be taken, how about... M2-9001?"
Erin pouted, sticking her tongue out, "No! That’s boring!"
Her dad sighed in mock defeat, and smiled, "Fine, I guess we’ll have to compromise. What about... Merathia?"
Erin leaned back a little in her dad’s arms, placing a hand on her chin. She was seriously contemplating the compromise. Then, she giggled and hugged her father tightly.
"Deal! Merathia!"
And thus, that planet was registered as an orange portal planet named Merathia, owned by one of the big four. The peace treaty between humanity and the dalki would be signed in the following years, allowing Erin to grow up to be a little embarrassed by the name.
A while later, colonization was going great. Her family had been lucky that the planet mostly consisted of basic and intermediate tier beasts with the rare advanced tier. They had documented nearly 80% of all beasts on the planet, and were doing well to keep the main base on Merathia safe.
Erin was now soon to be 12 and had yet to learn an ability. Given that her family was paid quite well for working on this planet, they had plenty of cash to get Erin something special.
With her birthday coming up, her parents had given her a list of abilities to choose from. They were expecting her to choose water due to her previous love of mermaids, but Erin had given them a curve ball by asking for ice. Apparently, she was entranced by an old movie of a princess with ice powers.
Her parents were stumped, but they had the money and resources to pay for it, and would do anything to make their child happy.
After doing some research, Erin’s mom was sent to earth to contact the family of ice originals. They were a small family, and very secluded, but had apparently been looking to make their ability public. They weren’t big like the other originals, and offered to sell her mom a few ice ability books in exchange for a large sum of cash.
Money was a mere object when it came to their girl, so her mom happily obliged.
Erin’s 12th birthday came along, and in one of the presents was the very ice ability book she had been asking for.
Immediately, Erin got to reading it.
They were only able to get 5 books, one for each ability level, but that was more than enough for her, and would last her a long time learning. Such a strong, rare ability was something her parents never had the opportunity to learn.
Due to the rarity of her power, Erin would sometimes be allowed to help her family clear some beasts on the planet. Of course, it was only on the conditions that she wouldn’t do it alone, having a team to back her up, and she wasn’t allowed on the front lines. After helping them with fighting beasts, Erin would watch her mom play games on old gaming consoles.
Soon, Erin was sent back to earth to finish her education, no longer getting homeschooled on Merathia. Her family paid for the best education they could afford, and during summer vacation she visited back home.
Despite the peace treaty that was meant to be in place, a dalki ship had crashed onto the planet, and disaster struck. Merathia was attacked.
The destruction that followed was devastating. People she had known on that planet now lay lifeless, and scorched. All of her parents’ hard work, gone, reduced to rubble. The once colorful scenery was now painted ash gray, lit only by burning red flames.
All because of two dalki.
Erin wanted to fight. She had seen her friends and family raise arms, fighting tooth and nail to push back. She knew she had helped her family fight against beasts in the past, and the ice ability was rare, and strong. Despite the danger, Erin needed to help protect the place she called home.
In a dojo her family owned, both Erin and her father were hiding from the dalki. She was trying to convince him to let her fight, but he was adamant that she’d stay there.
"Please, you have to let me fight!" Erin yelled, desperate to get through to her father.
"No Erin, you are not strong enough yet, now get out of here!" He screamed.
"But I can help!" Erin cried, "Just let me help you!"
"Look, I didn’t want to say this, but you’re weak. You will only get in our way!"
If Erin’s father had the time, he would’ve explained that she was his daughter, and was too young to fight. He couldn’t bear to see his own daughter get massacred by the dalki, but instead of her dying at their hands, it was him.
At that moment, the walls of the dojo crashed down, and his body was stabbed in the chest from behind. Erin froze watching her proud father’s eyes lose the life in them, and the clawed hand of a dalki right where his heart was supposed to be.
Before the dalki could attack Erin next, she was grabbed by an old family friend, one with a speed ability, and was taken away from danger.
—
That memory was burned into her mind, a day she could never forget.
’Why am I thinking of this now?’ Erin thought.
As she gradually came back to the present, blurriness became clarity, and everything slowed down.
Then, as her eyes drifted, she saw the top of the familiar brunette girl’s head. Slowly, the brunette girl’s head lifted up, and Erin saw her beautiful dark brown eyes that practically glowed in the desert sunset, as well as her soft sand colored skin. Erin would’ve never focused on these details before, but everything in that moment was so vividly real.
"Layla... Why are you...?" Erin whispered, but then the smell of sweet blood filled her nose, and her eyes fell further down.
A sword had lodged itself deep into Layla’s side, the tip of the blade appearing on the other end of her body.
"E-Erin... I’m..." Layla whispered, then fell to the ground.
While Erin had been stuck in a trance, the dalki had spotted the two girls. Layla tried to get Erin to snap out of it, shaking her by the shoulders, but when the dalki threw Pierogi’s sword in their direction, Layla had to make a split second decision. She couldn’t bear to see Erin get killed.
Before Erin knew it, tears were falling from her face, but she couldn’t grieve. No... Erin wouldn’t let it happen, not again.
"... Don’t you dare die on me," Erin choked out, before lifting Layla up, and carrying her on her back. The bag of beast crystals long since forgotten.
Erin had grabbed onto the starlingshot bow. It gave her a small boost in speed, which Erin desperately needed as she couldn’t focus on using her ability.
She would ignore the pain of the blistering sun, or the threat of the dalki if it meant Layla got to live.
The dalki, meanwhile, looked at Erin running off into the distance.
"Hmm... I wasn’t able to find that one boy, but I found them instead. They must be going towards the shelter for medical help... They’ll no doubt warn everyone that I’m here," The dalki thought out loud, "It would be a shame if something were to happen to them before they did..."
